CAFE Perspectives Report
Summary: I went to the Energy and Environment panel and learned about how to determine if our environment is thriving. The first speaker, Tyler Mark, spoke about how our two main renewable fuels are ethanol and biodiesel. Ethanol has dramatically increased from 1981-2017 from about 1 million gallons to 16 million gallons. Biodiesel has also increased from 2001-2016, production has increased from less than 200,000 gallons to about 2 million gallons. Wind capacity is also a source of energy for our environment, the total installed wind capacity is 90,003 MW. Texas is one of the leading states with the most installed wind capacity. Wind capacity isn’t our only source of alternative energy, solar power, hydropower, and anaerobic methane digesters are doing very well. About 1.7% of farms (36,331) are using solar power and about .06% of farms (1,323) are using hydropower. Anaerobic methane digesters are being used in about .04% of US livestock farms (537). Those statistics were taken in 2012.
Bioeconomy is economic activity that is fueled by research and innovation in the biological sciences. The bioeconomy allows people to live longer, healthier lives, reduce dependence oil, address key environmental challenges, transform manufacturing processes, and increase the productivity and scope of agricultural jobs.
The second speaker, Dr. Ellen Crocker, helped us understand what a healthy forest is. A healthy forest contains lots of diversity between species and life stages of animals and plants. A healthy forest normally contains wildlife and insects and native species that are thriving. The emerald ash borer is an invasive insect that rapidly kills all ash trees and is sweeping the country killing lots of our forests. There is also a difference between forest health and tree health. Forest health is the overall health of the forest, all wildlife and plant life. Tree health is the health focused on tree species. We call plants invasive when they are not native to an area and we don’t like it. Invasive plants can cause ecological and economical problems. Some characteristics of an unhealthy forest are high mortality, canopy openings, abundant invasives, littler regeneration potential, poor stand structure, invasive insects, invasive diseases, invasive plants, extreme weather, and human-caused damage along with poor management.
The last speaker, G. Wagner, told us five things we needed to keep in mind during his speech. 1. Climate change is a matter of science. 2. Science experts, in the US military, many industries, most world leaders are convinced, even while denial still exists. 3. Is it happening now? How is kentucky predicted to fare? 4. How is mankind mitigated similar, but certainly lesser problems before? 5. How can each of us help? 97 out of 100 climate experts think humans are causing global warming. There is a consensus among expert climate scientists (began to be openly expressed in 2009. Many Americans are increasingly making the connection between climate change and the increased incidence of extreme weather. There is a consensus (>97%) among expert scientists and a consensus among most (90% of practicing physical scientists) that climate change is occurring and that the major drivers are fossil fuel combustion. Global warming is still happening now and if the trends continue many of our glaciers will disappear and our atmospheric temperature will increase 1.5-2 degrees celsius.
Reflection: Overall the information was very well delivered, but i do think that the entire panel was very rushed. The speakers were only given 15 minutes to talk to us about their role in the environment and what we need to know. It was hard to keep up and take notes while trying to listen and understand. By the end of the discussions I was unsure of what I was just told because of how fast it was delivered to me. I had to go back and read my notes multiple times and look up different things to try and understand the material a little more. They provided a lot of information that I didn’t know beforehand, but it was a lot given in a small amount of time.
How it relates to GEN 100: From my notes the panel related to my GEN 100 class by teaching us ways to preserve our land because it has so many different uses. If we helped with keeping more forests alives then we get to learn about new species, different types of soil, how different plants need different environments to survive, etc. Land is essential to life, it gives us homes, food, nutrients, oxygen, animals, beautiful plant life, and so many more things.